Matt Cardona Feels IMPACT Is A Great Spot For Him, Says Ace Austin Has “It Factor”

Matt Cardona has high hopes for his time at IMPACT Wrestling but doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself.

Speaking with Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo, Cardona shared that he wants to explore his options and have fun, rather than getting tied down to a company so soon after being with WWE for 15 years. He revealed that he got the call to appear on IMPACT’s Hard To Kill PPV one day before the event and feels as though they’re a great spot for him right now.

“I think IMPACT is a great spot for me right now, a great opportunity… I am gonna take this opportunity and run with it and see what happens. Would I love to be the IMPACT World Champion? 100%. Would I love to be the face IMPACT? 100%. We’ll see what happens.”

Cardona was then asked if there were any talents, regardless of promotion, that he is fond of, to which he named two. The first was AEW’s MJF, who he calls one of the top guys in the business. He is amazed by how good he is at such a young age and believes he is going to be a huge star. The other was Super X Cup winner Ace Austin, who Cardona was very complimentary of. Here is what he said:

“In IMPACT, I had my eye on Ace Austin before I even got there… This kid has it, like everyone says, the it factor, he definitely has it. We had like a 5-minute sprint of a match but I’d like to work with him in a nice long competitive hard-hitting match…. When I am in the ring with somebody I can tell, like this guy is good. You can just tell if you have chemistry or not and it takes time for somebody to build chemistry with each other. But I just felt like we’re on the same page, he’s somebody I would definitely like to work with again because I think our styles mesh well, he’s a good guy.”

Matt Cardona, formerly Zack Ryder, was released by WWE on Wednesday, April 15th, 2020. During his time with the company, he won the Tag Team titles twice, and also held both the United States and Intercontinental Championships. Cardona would then begin using his real name and spent time in AEW before appearing in IMPACT Wrestling. He is scheduled to compete at IMPACT No Surrender on February 13 where he and Eddie Edwards will take on the team of Brian Myers and Hernandez.

Recently, Cardona and Myers, hosts of the Major Wrestling Figure podcasts, announced they have launched a new podcast network and two new original series.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo.